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Thursday, October 27, 2011

Book Review: A Wonderbook for Girls and Boys by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Book Description:

Thousands of years ago, when monsters roamed the earth and magic rules the world, the Greeks set sail among the islands of the Aegean Sea in search of incredible riches and fantastic adventures...adventures that would become legendary.

-The Gorgons: cruel witches with snakes for hair.
-Midas: everything he touched turned to gold...even people.
-Hercules: the greatest hero of all time.
-Chimaera: part lion, part goat, part snake—but all monster!
-Pegasus: the magical flying horse.

These are only a few of the fabulous heroes and monsters in the collection of classic Greek adventures retold especially for young people by one of the world's greatest authors.

Needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised. Many of these tales I was already familiar with and all were told in a very entertaining and charming way. My kids really enjoyed each tale and it inspired some conversation about how similar some of the tales were to Bible stories. Their favorite parts though were the "Introductions" and the "After the Story" that were included with each tale. You could not help but enjoy and laugh at Eustace Bright, the storyteller, and his listener's, Periwinkle, Dandelion, Huckleberry, Squash-Blossom, Milkweed and the others.